What Are Some Potential Adverse Effects of Blood Donation?

Discussion Just under 40% of people are eligible to be a blood donor. Up to 6.5% of a population are actual donors. “Blood donors are healthy volunteers who give either whole blood or blood components by apheresis including platelets, plasma, red blood cells, peripheral blood stem cells and leucocytes or a combination of blood components. They represent a large, healthy population exposing themselves voluntarily for altruistic, sometimes financial motives to potential complications and risks.” Blood banking systems world-wide are responsible for caring for individual donors health as well as maintaining a robust blood supply for the general population. The safest blood donors are voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors from low-risk populations,” per the World Health Organization. Young donors < 18 year old make up more than 10% of the donations in the U.S, and therefore are a very important resource for blood. The common blood types are O+ (39%), A+ (30%), O- and B+ (9%), A- (6%), AB+ (4%) and AB- (2%). “In an emergency, anyone can receive type O red blood cells. Therefore, people with type O blood are known as “universal donors.” In addition, individuals of all types can receive type AB plasma because it does not contain anti-A or anti-B.” Eligibility criteria for blood donation by the American Red Cross can be found here. Topics related to blood safety by the World Health Organization can be found here. Learning Point Adverse...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news